"Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" is the seventh single released by British pop band Scritti Politti, issued in the UK on 24 February 1984 by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

. It later appeared on the band's second studio album '' Cupid & Psyche 85'' (released in June 1985) and was produced by

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for o ...

. The song's subtitle is a reference to "

I Say a Little Prayer "I Say a Little Prayer" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for Dionne Warwick, originally peaking at number four on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 pop singles chart in December 1967. On the R&B Singles chart it peaked at numbe ...

", Aretha Franklin's biggest UK hit; Mardin had also produced Franklin. The single was Scritti Politti's breakthrough hit on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, where it peaked at No. 10 in a 16-week chart run. It was also a Top 30 hit in Australia and New Zealand.

Style

Writing in a 2011 interview with Green Gartside, Robin Turner said:

In April '84, "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" crackled over airwaves from
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to
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like an alien radio transmission beamed out to an unsuspecting planet. A gleaming, chromium nugget molded by ultra-modernist studioheads, it heralded in three and a half minutes the dramatic, bravura transformation of a band called Scritti Politti. Formerly a DIY squat
punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
band, they were now a group doused in glinting pop sheen. ... The resultant LP, Cupid and Psyche 85, yielded a string of radio-slaying singles ("Wood Beez...", " Absolute", " The Word Girl" and " Perfect Way") that segued fluently between ultra-slick robotised funk and meticulously constructed swoonsome lovers rock. Huge sales followed.

Music videos

Two

music videos A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

were shot for the song. The first, shot in 1984, was directed by John Scarlett-Davis, who also directed the videos for "Absolute" and "The Word Girl" and features the dancing of Michael Clark. A second music video was released for the US in 1986, directed by

Jean-Baptiste Mondino Jean-Baptiste Mondino (born Aubervilliers, France on 21 July 1949) is a French fashion photographer and music video director. He has directed music videos for Madonna, David Bowie, Sting, Björk, Don Henley, Neneh Cherry, Axel Bauer and Les Rita ...

and featuring model Veronica Webb (who also appeared in the video for "Perfect Way"). Both versions were featured on a video compilation simply titled "Scritti Politti", released on VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc by Virgin Music Video in 1986. The 1984 version is simply titled "Wood Beez", while the 1986 version is titled "Wood Beez – USA".

Other versions and uses

The extended version is subtitled "Version". It appeared on the CD release of the album and also on the 2005 compilation ''12"/80s'', which prompted

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

to call its inclusion "smart" and ''

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

'' to note the extended version's "ultra-brite (p)op-art stabs and gimmicky samples are a mini-essay in mid-80s remixing-- as well as on what the 80s did to

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

Track listing

7" single A: "Wood Beez" – 3:34
B: "Wood Beez" (Version) – 4:43 (an edit of the "Version" which appears on the 12") 12" single A: "Wood Beez" – 4:50
B: "Wood Beez" (Version) – 5:54 CD single (released 1988) # "Wood Beez" – 4:50 # "Small Talk" – 3:36 # "Wood Beez" (Version) – 6:00

Chart performance

Weekly charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control Scritti Politti songs Songs written by Green Gartside 1983 songs Virgin Records singles Warner Records singles 1984 singles Song recordings produced by Arif Mardin Aretha Franklin